Progress while we pick out the kitchen sink

As with any house project there are so many decisions to make on a continuing basis. Today was the day to pick out a tub, kitchen sink as well as the bathroom and mudroom sinks. While we were at it we picked out the taps and shower heads and a bunch of other things as well. A trip to the cabinet maker was also part of the day's journey. While Janis and I were out making a host of decisions the crews were back at the project making more progress. After a morning of not so nice rain and cool temps the sun came out this afternoon. Our crew made good progress on the mesh on the trees. The front porch is coming together nicely and is everything we imagined. I especially like the way the top curves of the beams is mirrored in the bottom walls. It is going to be downright cool!

Up on the roof the carpenters spent the day tidying up many small details and also sheeting in the first of the eyebrows. The curved roof looks both subtle and spectacular.

Tomorrow the weather promises to start improving with great forcasts stretching out from there. Summer has arrived at long last it seems.

-grampa dan

Ready for the plumber

Tomorrow we'll spend some time with Harold, our contractor laying out the inside walls of the house to make sure all the plumbing pokes out of the floor exactly where it is supposed to. It is our last chance to make any changes to the floor plan. Wednesday the plumber and his helpers arrive to start digging ditches and setting pipe in the ground. Once they are done the sand will be carefully flattened out, graded and packed into place in preparation for the concrete floor.

Today. our crew went through the entire building site, sorting out lumber, cleaning up and emptying the ground floor in readiness. The house suddenly looked big again with all the piles of lumber gone.

It's sure fun to see it all come together!

-grampa dan

Lay of the land

I get many quiries about where the new house is in relation to the old one. The answer is the new house is directly in front of the old. The foundations are four feet apart. The roofs overlap. The old house will come down when the new one is complete. Here's the view from the driveway which goes along the west side of our proerpty from front to back.

The shop is towards the back of our property about 330 feet from our new house. From my studio windows I can see the old and new house to the north. The minature horse paddocks are on the east side of the property (right side of the picture)

The new house is much closer to the road than the old one. The only time we used the front yard was to mow the lawn. So we decided to build 29 feet from the property line. (local laws allowed us to be 25 feet) By using LOGIX ICF blocks as a construction material we won't hear any road noise. We've also oriented most of the living areas to the south away from the road. The view of Vedder Mountain is visible from that side as well, plus the 330 feet of green rolling lawn, not to mention the minature horses.

We live in the center of a small town on the main drag through town but the proeprties are large and we are surrounded on two sides by agricultural land whch is protected by law and cannot be subdivided. It's like living in the county with a small town only half a block away. I took a few pictures of the property from across the road in both directions.

The tower to the right of the picture is the electrical, telephone and water distribution center. All services come onto our property at this point and then go underground from this point to the shop, barn new house and old house. We call the building the train station as eventually the tracks for our giant scale railroad will go past this point as they circle the property.

The property suits us perfectly. It is in a small town which we love. A busy road goes by our front door with more than a million people travelling to the recreational area just up the road. It's a great place to live!

-grampa dan